This poet, composer and performer of his own songs spent many years outside his home country. Alexander Vertinsky sincerely and deeply experienced separation. Nostalgia for home pushed him to create sad songs that the emigrants really liked.
Difficult childhood
Alexander Nikolaevich Vertinsky was born on March 19, 1889 in the family of a practicing lawyer. Parents lived in the city of Kiev. At the time of the boy's birth, they had not yet legalized their relationship, although Sasha was already the second child in the house. The reason for this situation was the fact that the head of the family could not get a divorce from his first wife. The father managed to formally adopt children after the death of his beloved wife. Alexander Vertinsky's mother died when he was three years old, and his father died suddenly when the boy was five.
The brother and sister were taken up by the mother's relatives. The boy was sent to study at the Imperial Gymnasium. For inappropriate behavior, Vertinsky was expelled from a prestigious educational institution. His aunt had to arrange him in a school for commoners. Here Alexander began attending classes in a drama studio and became interested in theater. For the orphan, the stage became an outlet in a series of monotonous days. In amateur performances, the young man was entrusted with the main roles. Once, after a quarrel with his aunt, the aspiring actor left home and began an independent life.
Witty and cutesy
As the Russian proverb says, hunger is not an aunt - she will not slip a pie. Vertinsky had to work hard to earn his living. He mastered the professions of a loader, a salesman and a proofreader. In his spare time he wrote poems and stories, which he published in various newspapers. Small but stable fees allowed Alexander to save up money and leave for Moscow. Here the actor and poet was admitted to the Theater of Miniatures on Tverskaya Street. Already in the debut performance, he reincarnated as the sad clown Pierrot. One newspaper review called him "witty and cutesy."
Vertinsky was not admitted to the Moscow Art Theater due to the fact that he did not pronounce the letter "r". But he was invited to star in the film "Break". With the outbreak of the war, Alexander voluntarily became an orderly, and he was sent to the front. After being wounded, the poet had to return to his former life. Vertinsky wrote poetry and composed music himself. Romances "Unnecessary Letter", "Gray-Eyed King", "Over the Pink Sea" were received with delight by the audience. After the October Revolution of 1917, Vertinsky went on tour abroad and "stayed" there for more than twenty years.
Recognition and privacy
The singer could quite get a job and live with full material prosperity in any country. However, he was drawn to Russia. Vertinsky several times asked to be allowed to return home. Such permission came only in 1943.
The personal life of the famous singer has developed well. Vertinsky found his family happiness in his second marriage with actress and artist Lydia Tsirgvava. The family had two daughters. Alexander Vertinsky died of a heart attack in May 1957. Buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
